Rochefort, somewhat overshadowed by seaside neighbours La Rochelle to
the north and Royan to the south, is often neglected by visitors to the
Atlantic coastline of Poitou-Charentes. This is a pity because this historic
naval stronghold on the River Charente has plenty to offer.

Rochefort, the so-called Versailles of the Sea, lies on the
border of the Aunis and Saintonge regions. The town dates from the era of the
great sea explorers, a time commemorated in the Jardin des Retours beside
the Charente river, where world-travelling botanists would store the plants
they had collected on their voyages.

Immediately adjacent is the Corderie Royale, the royal
rope works built in 1666 by Colbert on the orders of Louis XIV to manufacture
all the rigging for the great warships until the time of the Revolution. Having
admired the English navy, and deciding he needed something similar, Louis XIV
said to Colbert: 'Faites grand, faites beau, faites vite'. Colbert
obeyed. The remarkable building he constructed just to make the ropes is some
374m (1,227ft) long, was damaged during World War II, but part of it has been
restored using the original stonework to serve as a living museum to rope making.
(Open: all year. www.corderie-royale.com).

During the 17th century, as thousands of workmen arrived at
the new shipbuilding works, a shanty town sprang up. This was the embryonic
Rochefort. Michel Bégon, Colbert's cousin, was appointed to sort the city out,
and he was determined to make it hygienic and efficient. He proudly boasted
later: 'I found the town in wood. I left it in stone.'

Rochefort was rebuilt in units seven metres wide, wherein
all the boulevards were the same width, sufficient to take carriages parked
either side and still allow two central moving lanes, a happy foresight that
makes Rochefort perfect for 21st-century traffic needs. No boulevard or street
was permitted to be closed at the end, an ingenious idea that allowed sea
breezes to sweep away any fever or malaria. The houses all had a central door
flanked by two windows, with three windows in the upper storey. And this layout
is still evident today, though 19th-century 'amalgamations' to accommodate the
more grandiose façades of private hotels have tampered with the evidence a little.

Bégon was not only an administrator and town planner but
something of an amateur botanist. The begonia, first brought back from the
Caribbean by the botanist priest Charles Plumier (translated as Charles Pencil
Box on some websites!) in the 17th century, was named after Bégon. The Conservatoire
du Bégonia (1 Rue Charles Plumier 17300 Rochefort. Tel: 05 46 82 40
30; www.begonia.rochefort.fr),
contains over 1,300 species, the largest collection in France.

Not far from the Corderie Royale, is the biggest
fax you're ever likely to see, a facsimile of the Hermione, the
ship in which General La Fayette sailed to America to reinforce the insurgent
troops. This painstaking and prolonged project, began in 1997 using traditional
tools and techniques, and was finally completed in 2015, then the ship repeated
that voyage, finally returning to Rochefort in August 2015.

It is fascinating to
see how ingeniously frigates like the Hermione were
constructed; it's like a huge three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. (Arsenal maritime, Place Amiral Dupont, 17308
Rochefort. Tel: 05 46 82 07 07; www.hermione.com).

the hermione project

On 18th April, L'Hermione departed from Aix, heading
to Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, where she made a call until 6th May, when
L'Hermione then set sail for the USA.

The 84 crew members and the ship sailed across the Atlantic,
and arrived in Yorktown in early June 5. The frigate then started her
journey up the American coast before finally returning across the Atlantic,
arriving first in Brest, before sailing back to its base in Rochefort to arrive
on 29th August.

Rochefort street market cocks a snook at EU
agricultural regulations by insisting on marketing local produce grown by
independent smallholders. Fruit, vegetables and cheeses of all manner of weird
shapes and sizes are abundant here, and not one measuring up to EU
specifications – but they taste superb, like la Jonchée, a unique
cows' cheese wrapped in reeds, soft and moist and white, and needing
consumption within the day. Or the mohjettes, the white haricot
beans grown at Pont l'Abbé that find their way into countless regional dishes.

TOP TIP

Although you may not want to be up at 6am when on holiday,
markets are best visited earlier rather than later, before 10am at the latest.
For food bargains, close to midday is when vendors sell off stuff cheaply.

ROCHEFORT: ROUND AND ABOUT

Little egrets, spoonbills, herons, swans and geese gathered
on the marais that comprises the Réserve Naturelle de
Moëze. It's quite a circuitous route to find Moëze, but well worth the
effort as it forces you, if you're continuing south, to pass through the
delightful village of Brouage, a place
completely encircled by the marshes.

Not so long ago, Brouage was a lively port trading
in salt, the 'white gold'. It was founded in 1555 by Jacques de Pons, and
rapidly became one of the most important trading ports on the Atlantic coast.
In 1567, Brouage, or Jacopolis-sur-Brouage as it was then known, was the birthplace
of Samuel Champlain, explorer and acknowledged founder of the city of Quebec
(1608), and consolidator of the French colonies in the New World. He discovered
the lake that bears his name (1609) and made other explorations of what are now
northern New York, the Ottawa River, and the eastern Great Lakes. In the 16th
century, Brouage was sheltered by massive fortifications, which were also used
as prisons for aristocrats and non-Juring priests during the Revolution.

Today, Brouage is enjoying something of a revival: shops
have opened in renovated stables and the main building (La Halle aux Vivres),
the Porte Royale and La Poudrière are all open to visitors. It's a quiet place,
still something of a backwater without the water, but it has an ethereal quality,
a homeliness and benign sense of well-being.

Other places to
visit include the Musée de la Marine (left), the old naval medical school the
l'Ecole de Médecine Navale, the Ferme Aquacole, a
sea farm on nearby Île Madame.

Rochefort’s ‘beach
resort’ can be found on the peninsula of Fouras. There are plenty of things to
see and do on Fouras, so it’s well worth a visit in its own right. Nature
lovers will also enjoy the natural reserve on the marshes or marais at Yves, as
well as that at Moeze, and also the nature area at Breuil Magné known as La
Cabane de Moins. In recent years Rochefort has also become a tourist
attraction, too, as a spa town; if you’re into that sort of thing Eurothermes is
well worth a visit.